Family? What's that?
by kcroft601
Summary: Jaden's been surviving the zombie apocalypse alone most of the time, she learnt to kill and hunt and be quiet. She was never included into a group but met some along the way, nasty groups, horrible groups, disgusting groups. When she comes back from a run and is over run by walkers, she must run, she runs as fast as she can until she stumbles upon a prison. AU where Carl is 16.
1. Chapter 1

The smell hit me first, the smell of rotting corpses and blood. It was disgusting and overpowering but I brought my rifle gun and machete forwards as I ventured into the corpse ridden woods. Although the smell was obvious I didn't meet any walkers until the very edge of the forest but it was only one, a small child with what seemed to of been blonde hair although it was now very knotty and tangled and greasy. The petite walker slowly turned around which is when I noticed it was a little girl, she almost had a look of fear on her face, a look I'd given most of my childhood. I looked at her and saw her start to stumble slowly toward me as I brought up my machete; I took a deep breath and raised it. I didn't want to kill a little girl, a little girl who resembled me so much had she not been a walker so I dropped it, not to the ground but a lowered it quite a lot. I watched the little girl and saw that she had a limp in her step which was certainly helping in slowing her down, she only looked about 5 or so and it made me shed a small tear, thinking that even a little girl could turn into one of those flesh craving monsters. "I'm sorry you turned out like this" I whispered to the small girl before dodging round her and running for it. I ran through the tree's and along the brown crispy, leaf ridden ground until I came out the opposite end to the sunlight, the glorious sunlight, it seemed like it had been years since I saw the sun but I knew it had only been a couple of days since it was last out. I sighed a little but smiled at the heat radiating off the star in the sky before I ran across the pavement and road, running into a large house that was on the corner of two connecting roads. I slowly shut the door and slid down the other side, this was the only peace and quiet I'd had in about 2 weeks since all I seemed to be doing was going out on runs then sleeping at the house, it only dawned on me then that I didn't even know how old I was any more, I'd been 16 before the apocalypse started and that was over a year ago now so maybe I was 17 already. I then proceeded to think of my brother's, where were they? Did they still think of me? I stopped after that as I started to cry, of course I knew where my brothers were…Dead. Of course they were dead, how could they not be? As strong as they were, not everyone was going to survive this apocalypse. I sat on the floor for what seemed like forever but I knew it had only been a few minutes maybe 5 or 10 so I pulled myself up and went into the kitchen. Walking over to the boarded up windows I heard moans from outside and peered through the crack to see one lone walker outside, it hadn't been there this morning so it confused me how it got into the back yard…it was fenced off. I discarded the walker and grabbed a can of food out of the cupboard, I sighed and sat down at the table starting to eat the cold food…I didn't even know what it was I was pretty much numb to the taste of food now, I'd eat anything if I was hungry and I've always been like it even when I was small. As soon as the last bit of food entered my lips, I put the can into the sink and went upstairs with my rifle and machete in hand. I walked into the bedroom I'd taken over and put a chair under the handle like every night before checking in the bag that I had enough food to keep me going if I had to run. I fell onto the mattress I used as a bed and fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

_"Piggy, come here now" my father shouted from downstairs, that's what he always called me. Piggy. Never my first name, never ever did he call me by my first name apparently it was too much of a boy's name for a 'pretty little girl like me' that's what my dad always said. I was forced into wearing dresses and skirts, frilly little shoes and t-shirts when all I ever wanted to wear was jeans, I just wanted to go outside and run around not locked in my bedroom colouring like 'pretty little girls should' Of course I exited my room quickly and walked down the stairs at my father's commands, I knew if I didn't he'd hurt me even more. As a small girl of 12, I walked into the living room to see my dad lying back on the sofa with a can of beer in his hand, I was quite fat for my age since I comfort ate a lot. "Here" my dad barked in my face and I curtly stood in front of him where he quickly but harshly slapped me round the face for no reason at all "That's for being so fat" he spat in my face causing me to cry even more than I already was. Neither of my brothers were there, they never were any more. They were both old enough to live on their own and they'd done so, leaving me alone with our father._

I soon jolted up from my dream, I was panting and sweating. I hadn't dreamt of my father in a very long time so I was surprised I had done so now, the dream kept repeating again and again in my head, the smirk on my dad's face when he saw me crying, the sound of his hand against my cheek, it didn't stop. I didn't even hear the moaning and groaning from outside until I heard a bang on the other side of the door. "Shit" I muttered and got up from the mattress, pushing back the blanket that as strewn over my now petite body. I walked over to the door and pressed my ear against it, I could hear the low grumbles and moans of walkers, I could hear scratching against the door in their attempts to get inside to where I was. Of course, I was prepared for this happening. I grabbed the bag I had of food along with my rifle gun and machete; I went over to the boarded window in the bedroom and pulled as hard as I could on the wood not even caring about the pain it was causing me. I looked out through the glass into the back garden to see that it was weirdly walker free; obviously they'd all gone to the front of the house. Then I realised…I hadn't locked the front door before going to bed, that was how the walkers got in because of my stupidity. I looked back at the door and the walkers were pretty much almost inside so I quickly threw open the bedroom window and sat on the ledge, I chucked down my gun and machete wincing at the sound they made when they hit the floor before putting the bag on my back and jumping. I landed on my side and felt a sharp pain rip through my ankle and up my leg; I stifled a shout of pain and looked down to see my ankle had gone a sort of dark purple colour. I winced at the pain and pushed myself up off the ground, I quickly grabbed my bag and weapons before starting to walk through the garden ignoring all the pain I was going through. Once I had managed to climb over the fence I started to run, the pain was getting severally worse of course but I needed to get away from all the walkers, I just kept running ignoring the shoots of pain going from my ankle through my body. It felt like I'd been running for days but I soon stopped to take a breath and eat something, I walked the rest of the way through a forest luckily not meeting any walkers until I got to the edge. My mouth practically fell open when I saw a prison before me, there were walkers almost gathered around the fence obviously trying to get inside the fence. Why would they be trying to get in? Were there people in there? That's when I saw inside the fence, there was fencing inside the fence with animals inside. There were people inside? I hoped so any way.


	2. Chapter 2

I clutched my knife firmly and limped down the grassy hill until I got to the fence of the prison, I looked to my side and saw that the walkers were all congregated to one side and hadn't noticed me yet. I put my machete in the same hand as my rifle and placed the free hand on the cold metal wire of the fence, I was still in pain from my ankle but I smiled slightly when I heard the distant sound of voices. I soon saw a door opening in the distance and saw the figure of a person walk out, I decided to take my chances "Hey!" I shouted out as loud as I could, I glanced to my side again and saw a couple of walkers had noticed me but not many, I could handle it. I looked back to the prison but the person had gone, they'd gone back inside obviously and I'd been left outside the fence. "HEY! IS ANYONE IN THERE?" I shouted at the top of my lungs and even more walkers noticed, I pulled up my machete and stabbed it down through the head of a walker that had come too near for comfort.

I started to pant a little and let a few tears spill from my eyes as more pain ripped through my ankle and up my leg. I heard a distant bang and looked back to the prison to see the door had been opened again and this time two people had come out "HEY!" I shouted again, I didn't shout as loud this time but they certainly heard me, the two people turned and looked over to where I was stood. I freed my hand again by putting my machete and rifle in the same hand and waved so they knew I wasn't a walker. Waving was probably a bad idea as a few more walkers had started to approach me and I was taken off guard, I quickly dropped the gun and raised the sharp blade, piecing it through the rotten skin of the first walker to approach. I soon heard quick footsteps and glanced to see the two people run down the grass and to the gates. I stabbed one last walker before grabbing my gun and running again, I kept wincing at the point as it got unbearable but soon got to the gate where the two people were stood on the opposite side. A man and a woman, the man had strong stubble and brown hair that was greying, he was wearing what seemed to of been a Sheriff uniform but could have been anything really. The woman had straddley, short brown hair; she had piecing green eyes and was looking me up and down. The man looked down and saw I was obviously injured before opening the gate only so much that I could slip through. As soon as I got through the gates I all but fell to the mudded ground as the pain from my ankle got too much.

_Rick's POV_

I'd been sat on the stairs in the cell block when Maggie came in, with Judith in my arms I smiled down at my baby daughter as she giggled slightly at my tickling on her stomach. Everyone was in cell block D or C, the new people from Woodbury were mostly just in their cell's leaving the rest of us outside the cresh area. "Rick, I think there's someone at the fence" Maggie burst through the door, I looked up at her then around at everyone else who was looking between me and Maggie, I soon sighed and handed Judith back to Carol as I got up from the steps. We hadn't had any contact from The Governor or Woodbury for a very long time now but we were all still wary that he'd come back to finish us off. I grabbed my gun and put it in my belt as I walked out the cell block, Maggie pointed down to the fence where a congregation of walkers were, they were always there and it was nothing new. I was preparing to turn back around and got back inside stating that Maggie must have imagined the call when a shout did come, we heard a loud shout of hey and turned to the fest. I scanned along it and saw a petite figure just left of the gate, I pointed the figure out and started running through the grass to the fence where the person was.

As we got closer I saw it was a young girl of about 17 or 18, she had long, knotty brown, curly hair, she had deep blue eyes and seemed to be quite skinny although I couldn't quite tell under her baggy shirt and jeans. I looked her over and she was stood with a limp in her foot. I breathed out slowly before deciding to open the gate, she was a young girl maybe even a child still and I couldn't let her stay out there alone it wasn't fair, I wouldn't want Carl out there on his own so why would I let someone else's daughter be out there alone? I opened the gate a crack so she could slip in which she did, the second she was through the gate she dropped her weapons and fell to the floor obviously passing out from any pain she was going through. "You get that arm and we'll take her to Hershel, we'll decide when she wakes up what to do with her" I said to Maggie and she nodded, I grabbed her sword and rifle and helped Maggie lift the girl up off the ground before we started to walk back up to the cell block.

"Who's she?" Carol questioned when we walked through the door with the girl, I looked at Carol then round at the other before leading Maggie into a cell and laying the girl down on the bed. "She was at the fence shouting to us" Maggie explained to everyone as Hershel walked into the cell, he sat down on a stool that was next to the bed and started to examine her ankle as I pointed out that she'd had a limp. After a few minutes Hershel concluded that the girl had sprained her ankle then made it worse, he said probably by walking on it. I nodded and ushered everyone back into the cresh area to leave the girl to rest. The whole group was here apart from Daryl and Glenn who were on a run to get more supplies, before exiting the cell I grabbed the girls bag and taking it into the cresh and sitting beside Carol. "That's the girls, you shouldn't look through it" Carol pointed out and I just sighed, agreeing with her. I wasn't going to take anything I just wanted to see what she had inside, she might have had food. "What do we do with her?" Beth suddenly piped up and I looked over at her shrugging, I had no idea what we were going to do with her, I didn't want to just send her away but what if she was someone to do with Woodbury sent to spy on us? After thinking for a few minutes I stated that we'd wait till Daryl and Glenn returned and decide as a group what to do with her. We'd all been sat in silence for quite a long time before the door opened inside the cell and Michonne walked in "What's happened?" she asked, looking round at us all. Everyone turned to me like they always did and I sighed before explaining.

_Jaden's POV_

I awoke to a grubby looking dark almost black ceiling. I blinked a little trying to get my bearings before looking down to see I had a bandage over my ankle "What?" I muttered and sat up in the bed, I looked around the room, the walls were as grubby and dark as the ceiling, there were carvings in the wall like someone had been counting down to something. I looked over to the front of the room to see iron bars like a prison cell…Then I remembered what had happened, I was in a prison with people I didn't know. "Are you okay?" a gruff voice came and I looked over to the iron bar door to see the man from before, I just nodded not able to find my voice. I hadn't seen an actual human being for well over a year net alone spoken to one "My name's Rick" he added calmly, he looked at me before walking further into the cell and perching on the end of the bed. "I'm erm Jaden" I told him and nodded before picking something up from the ground, he'd picked up some crutches. "You can come out and meet everyone when you're ready but Hershel said you shouldn't walk on your foot for a bit so we found you these to use" Rick said and handed the crutches to me, I nodded and watched him as he walked away and out of the cell.

I wasn't used to any sort of man minus one of my brothers being nice to me, I was used to being smacked and being called piggy and horrible names so when Rick was actually kind to me I was more than shocked. I sat on the bed for a few minutes just thinking, did I really want to get involved with a group? As crap as my childhood was I got quickly attached to people emotionally and I knew if I joined a group of people then I'd do the same as always. After a few minutes I took a deep breath and stood up with the crutches, I took another breath then limped out into the main area looking down. "So who's this new girl?" I heard another gruff voice, my eyes widened a little at how much I recognised that voice but I couldn't put my finger on how I knew the voice. I finally looked up and let my eyes wander the room until they lay on the source of the voice, the man was staring at me and I knew he remembered. "Daryl?" I asked not wanting to actually believe he was there. He opened his mouth to speak but he closed it into a smile, I dropped the crutches and ran over to him forgetting about my ankle. I smiled and fell into his arms, I couldn't stop smiling, I'd missed my brother so much.


	3. Chapter 3

I didn't want to let go of my brother, he brought warmth and safety and I just forgot about my years of annoyance at him for leaving me. When we did finally pull apart I'd practically forgotten where we were, what we were doing and what the world had come to, I looked around at the people in the prison as they stared at us. I picked the crutches up I'd been given and felt a hand on my back which I saw to be Daryl's, he lead me away from the main area and away from all the people I didn't know and walked me to an end cell. He sat down on the rickety, dirty bed and sat me down beside him "I thought you were dead…" Daryl said to me, I looked at him and saw he was glancing down and playing with his hands in his lap, he was nervous almost scared and I could tell, I always knew when he was nervous of something and that was always a rare occasion. "I assumed you'd be dead" I told him bluntly, I wasn't going to beat around the bush I really did think he was dead that there hadn't been any hope for him, I hadn't seen Merle yet so I was guessing my theory of his death was true. "Where's Merle?" I asked my voice was calm, it was normal; I thought if I ever saw my brother again I'd never stay calm again. "Dead" he said and I just nodded curtly. We sat there in silence, not the good kind of silence, the bad and awkward kind of silence, the sort of silence that shouldn't occur between brother and sister. We'd been sat in silence for what felt like had been years when I heard footsteps outside; I looked up and over at the cell door to see a petite woman with extremely short grey hair.

I looked her up and down and saw her petite figure which made me almost jealous of her even though she would probably be old enough to be my mum. I'd never had a small body like her's, I'd always been curvy and a little big so a small pang of jealousy hit me. I looked to Daryl and saw a very slight smile form when he saw the woman "Carol this is my sister, Jaden. I told you about her" Daryl said and I watched as this Carol woman stepped in the iron bars and smiled at me, I just stared at her I'd never taken well to other women being in Daryl's life, I'd always been his special girl and I didn't like other people to have a potential to be that. "I'm Carol, nice to meet you" she said, she had a motherly sort of tone to her voice which kind of warmed me just a little, I'd never had a mum before, my dad had had girlfriends or his 'play things' as he called them but they'd always been young and bitchy and never had that motherly warmth about them. I shook her hand weakly before Daryl helped me to my feet and took me back into the main area of the prison, there were a lot more people in the area now and it sort of worried me a little but at the same gave me a sense of safety. "Jaden this is Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Carl, Michonne, Hershel, Beth, Tyreese, Sasha, Bob, Karen, Zach and Doctor Caleb. The rest of our group will be in their cells, you can meet them later. Everyone this Jaden, my sister" Daryl introduced me to the people who were there, I went over to Beth and sat with her since she seemed to be my age, she let me hold the baby she was looking after who I soon found out to be called Judith, Rick's daughter.

I couldn't sleep. Sleep had never been a problem for me but now sleeping on a lumpy mattress on an old and rusty bed looking up at a dark and dirty ceiling…I couldn't sleep at all. All I could do was think about what happened in the space of a day, I'd had to run from what I was calling a home, practically broken my ankle, found a safe environment with people and found my brother, you'd of thought I was overwhelmed from all this and would have been tired but no, as much as I closed my eyes and tried to focus on sleeping I couldn't. I eventually lost any hope of being able to sleep and sat up on the bed, I pulled up the crutches and pulled myself up from the bed. I grabbed the torch from the floor and went outside the cell on my crutches, I could hear light snoring from other cells and light footsteps above me obviously from people who also couldn't sleep, I limped into the main area and saw the figure of a person sitting against the wall. I clicked the torch on and saw it was the boy around my age, Carl "Hey" he said and smiled at me, I smiled back and went over to him. I put the crutches on the floor and sat down beside him, "Carl right?" I asked and he nodded his head still smiling at me "Well I'm Jaden" I said although he already knew this and shook his hand. "So were you living out there alone?" Carl asked me once I'd gotten comfortable and turned off my torch; I looked to my side where I could see the faint outline of Carl's face "Yup for the whole time…sort of…" I said and trailed off a little, I didn't like talking about my experiences through this shitstorm; it just brought up past pain and anger towards other people. "Don't ask" I added and I saw out of the corner of my eye as he nodded his head agreeing not to ask. We sat talking for a few hours until I forgot what had happened and I'd obviously fallen asleep.

I awoke some few hours later to the soft but gruff voice of my brother; I opened my eyes and finally registered that I could feel arms around me and something beneath my head as well. I moved slightly to find I was lying in Carl's lap with his arms around me, he was still asleep so I eased myself out of his grasp and stood up facing my brother. I followed him outside and saw it was still rather early as the sky was still blood red with hints of blue and the sun was only just rising. "Do you think this is happening all over?" I asked my brother, it was a stupid question that I knew the answer to but for now that's what I lived for, asking my brother stupid and obvious questions to make him laugh. "Well if it was just happening here I'd of thought other countries would have started to notice by now" he laughed and I laughed along with him before walking over to where they had a sort of outdoor mini kitchen going on. I looked at Daryl before breaking out into a sprint on my crutches, I ran over to said kitchen and jumped over the side to where the front of most the appliances were. "Now Mr Dixon what would you like to eat?" I asked in a sort of mock posh voice, I looked at him and saw him snigger as I pretended to pull out a pad and pen and 'take his order' of egg and toast. I laughed at him before pretending to get stuff out and cook said meal for him.

Me and Daryl spent quite a long time together just on our own, he took me down to the fence and showed me what they did if the walkers started getting a little too much. I stood around and poked a metal skewer through the fence for a bit before getting bored and leaving Daryl to do it alone, I'd seen some people come out and they were obviously starting breakfast. "I'll save you something" I told Daryl and he nodded as I went back round the fence and up to the main outside area on my crutches, I went over to where Carol was stood serving the food "Maggie you should go and help Daryl" Carol shouted behind her to the woman with short hair from before, the woman nodded and I watched her walk away before I got some food from Carol. I scanned around and tried to identify all the people Daryl had introduced me to the day before but I could only pin point Zach and Beth but I soon found Carl who was stood with his friend, Patrick I think it was. "Hey" I said and I watched as Carl's face sort of brightened a little when he saw me coming over, I was correct though it was Patrick he was stood with as Carl introduced me to him.


	4. Chapter 4

My ankle seemed to heal pretty fast, I didn't know how many days it had been but it was around a week before I could walk properly on my foot without it hurting as much. I gave Rick the crutches back and went back to normal, the slightest limp still there. I never knew what time it was of course it was just the light and the dark. And currently it was the dark. Sort of. In my dream land it was currently the light, 6.04 on a Sunday morning it was like I wasn't even away from the prison. I was still in the prison grounds but it was empty, the grass was greener as though it hadn't been trodden on, the fence was seemed to be stronger and there were no walkers at the fence, no flesh eating, corpse sticking zombie creatures could be seen within sight. I turned around and saw my brother, not just Daryl but Merle too, Daryl was clean cut and like he'd actually showered for once and Merle just looked kinder in face. I smiled and walked through the muddy green grass to them, my brother's wrapped their arms around me and I did the same to them. I only looked up when I heard the door bang open, I looked past and I saw my father along with a woman who looked moderately like me, I was almost scared and went to hide behind Daryl when I saw my dad was smiling. A genuine proper smile. I'd never seen him smile before.

I didn't wake up screaming, of course I didn't there was no need to, I'd had no nightmare and I was not scared by the dream. I sat up in the bed, my hair was scraped back and my blanket was oddly fallen over my naked torso. I pulled the blanket tighter over my body and leant over to the chair to the side of the bed, I pulled the clothes from it and put them on the blanket. I looked up when I heard footsteps pass my cell "Hey, Michonne" I shouted to the black woman who was walking past, she slowed then stopped outside the cell. I quickly let my blanket fall then pulled on my t-shirt "Are you going on a run today?" I asked her, I had only been with this group for about a week or not but I already felt like they counted me as one of them. "Yeah I am" she said, I looked at her and nodded before pushing the blanket away from my body, I was wearing small panties and stood there for a second before I pulled my jeans over my calves and thighs and zipped them up. "Is it alright if I come?" I asked and I watched as she studied me before nodding, a small smile forming on her lips. She told me to meet her outside in 5 minutes before walking away; I watched her go before sitting on the bed and pulling on my faded black army boots.

Once I was finished getting ready, I quickly grabbed some food and ran outside to where Michonne was stood against a car. I went over to her and was about to get in the car after her when the door opened and Daryl came out laughing with Carol. "Where're you going?" he asked and came over, I looked at him before telling him I was going on a run. "No you're not" he told me and pulled me away from the car by my arm. "What? You can't tell me what to do, Daryl" I said to him and he practically glared at me "Michonne go on the run alone, Jaden is NOT going on a run" he stated sternly as if he was my dad. I stared at Daryl then watched Michonne get into the car. I watched her drive away before walking off, making sure I shoved past Daryl as hard as I could.

"Jaden don't walk away from me!" Daryl shouted after me as I headed towards the cell blocked, I didn't stop just carried on walking up the steps and inside the building. "Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!" I heard Daryl say sternly and he spun me around, he placed his on my shoulders and I glared up at him. "Oh sorry I forgot you could tell me what to do, Daryl. Get off me!" I snapped at him and pushed him back, although he was much older than me I was still quite strong and managed to make him stumble a little and let me go so I could walk away into my cell. "I don't want you going out on runs, Jade, I don't want you to get hurt!" he said to me a little quieter now, I was sat on my bed and looked up at him glaring. "Daryl, I'm 17 year old, I've survived on my fucking own this whole fucked up apocalypse without your help! Don't think that just because we found each other again you can suddenly feel the need to protect me! What is it? Guilty conscious? From all those times you didn't protect me from dad because if that's what it is then that's low!" I shouted at him, I didn't even care who in the block heard it, damn I didn't even care if the whole walker population heard it. "I'm sorry" he muttered and I laughed in his face "No you're not, Daryl, don't fucking lie. I'm your younger sister and you just left me, maybe you thought I'd of forgotten but fucking hell Daryl why would I? After everything dad did to me you just walked away and left me to deal with him. You left me alone to deal with his hitting, kicking, biting, his abusing and name calling. Even you're not stupid enough to think he just abused me physically and you just left me to handle that alone" I screamed at him, I watched as his head snapped up at what I was implying "I never knew he raped you…" he said quietly and I again laughed in his face. "Yes you did, even Merle knew that and he cared even less than you did" I said to him and walked out the cell.

"Jaden wait" Daryl said and I just stopped in the doorway of my cell, I didn't want to look at him and I just looked ahead where everyone was staring at me and my brother arguing. "I do care about you, Jaden, so did Merle" he said to me and I finally spun around to face, he looked sad and he did actually look like he was sorry about what happened but I just ignored his face and walked over to him as close as I could get. I glared up at him "If you cared you'd of taken me away from dad. You wouldn't of let him hit me, slap me, punch me, kick me, rape me; you wouldn't have let him call me piggy all the time. You would have taken me away to live with you. I expected it from Merle, I was never expecting him to come and save me but I thought you might and you know what? That's what kept me from killing myself, Daryl, thinking that you'd come and save me is what stopped from killing myself" I told him sternly, I watched him stare at me as I pulled my arm up "You never even noticed" I whispered to him and showed him the many scars on my forearm where I'd taken a blade to my skin and dragged it across.

I turned again and walked out my cell; I walked out the door of the block and went over to a car. I pulled open the door and climbed inside, Merle had taught me to drive a couple of times well tried to anyway; I was only just 16 when he had done and he'd only taught me three times but I knew what to do. I put the key in the ignition and started to drive it down the drive. I knew that Carl would still be at the gate waiting for Michonne's arrival back so I drove down to him, he didn't even look who was in the car and opened the gate for me allowing me to drive away. He probably thought I was Maggie or someone going out for something.

_Daryl's POV _

I watched her walk away but didn't say anything I just let her go, I knew she was right I should have gone back and taken her away from dad. He'd been bad to her with me and Merle around I could only imagine what he did to her without us around. I looked up to see Carol watching me but I just ignored her and walked out of Jaden's cell and going into mine. I sat down on the bed and was about to try and sleep when Rick came rushing into the cell "Jaden's gone!" he said through pants and I sat up "What?" I pretty much snapped angrily, Rick caught his breath and leant against the wall "Carl saw her go off in a car, he let her through the gate because he just assumed she'd been told to go, I'm sorry Daryl" Rick told me, I just stared at him before getting off my bed and shoving past Rick, I went down the stairs and out the building to my motorbike.

I started the motorbike and drove down the driveway "OPEN THE GATE!" I all but screamed at Carl, he didn't hesitate in opening it and I drove out and started through the forest. There was only one place I could think of that she'd go to. Our old home. I drove on the road for what felt like had been hours but I eventually got to our old house in the hills and climbed off my motorbike, there didn't seem to be any walkers around so I walked straight up the path and pushed the door open walking inside. "Jaden?" I called out quietly, I shut the door behind me and started walking through the hall. I had my crossbow loaded and had it pointing forwards, my torch was positioned a top of the crossbow and I walked through the house which brought back so many memories I almost wanted to cry. I stopped at the fireplace in the living room and picked up a picture from there, the light from the torch hit it and I smiled when I saw the picture of me, Merle, mum, dad and baby Jaden. Dad was actually smiling and I think it was the first and last time he ever did smile.

"I never saw him smile again after that picture" I heard Jaden's voice behind me, I put the picture down and spun around to face her. The light hit her face and it was then that I saw the almost black circles under her eyes, I watched her as she sat down on the sofa and I sat down beside her. "I killed dad…" she finally said after saying nothing for about 5 or 10 minutes, I looked at her and she just stared ahead. "What?" I asked her, she just kept looking forwards not even blinking. "When the outbreak happened dad took me with him and some of his friends, I thought that maybe things would be different now but it never stopped. He carried on abusing me physically and sexually, he let his friends have their way with me as well. I eventually had had enough of it and tricked all his friends before killing them, then I tricked dad and tied him to a tree, I staged him in the heart and sat there watching him turn. I didn't stab him in the head, I sat and watched him turn into a flesh eating monster and I left him there" she told me and she finally looked at me, my eyes were wide in shock and I could only manage one word "Wow" Jaden looked at me and nodded before saying something else. "I don't know how to love…" I turned on the sofa and looked at her not really understanding what she meant. "I never felt any love to me from someone, I never knew what it felt like to be loved so I didn't know how to love anyone else, I didn't know Daryl. I can never say that I love you or Merle or anyone because I don't know what it means to love" she told me, I opened my mouth to speak but didn't bother; I just pulled her into a hug and held her close. "I'll show you how to love" I whispered in her ear before kissing the side of her face.

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Hey I just want to thank you all for reading my fanfiction, really means a lot. What would mean more would be if you could write me a comment on what you think of it so far and what you would like to see in future chapters.


	5. Chapter 5

After we'd stayed at our old house for about an hour or two, Daryl took my hand in his and walked me outside where the sudden cold air hit my face at a fast pace. He looked at me and told me to follow him back to the prison before getting on his motorbike "Wait!" I shouted and ran back into the house, I ran into the living room and grabbed the photo off the fireplace of me, Daryl, Merle, dad and mum. I started walking out the living room door when I heard creaks of footsteps from above me, I went to the bottom of the stair case and started climbing it slowly "Hello?" I called out and waited for someone to call back.

I heard another creak then low sounding shuffling before I heard a moan and a groan and finally a walker appeared at the top of the stairs, I reached for my gun but it wasn't in its Hollister, I stared at the walker until I realised who it was and I screamed. I felt Daryl push me out the way and I fell to the floor, watching him fire his crossbow at the walker. I stared up at him then watched as the walker fell down the stairs "That was dad's last girlfriend…she was alright actually" I said to Daryl and he held his hand out, I grabbed hold of his hand and pulled myself up from the floor brushing the dust down off my jeans. I looked down at the walker and pulled Daryl's arrow out her eyes before handing it back and walking out to where the car and motorbike was parked.

I opened the passenger door of the car and put the picture frame on the seat, "I'll follow you then?" I called to Daryl but there was no answer not even a creak from his step "Daryl?" No answer. "Daryl don't mess around" no answer. I sighed and went back into the house to find him, I walked into the living room but I couldn't see properly in the dark. Quick as I could I rushed out and grabbed the torch from the back of the car and went back inside "Daryl?!" I shouted and flicked the torch on so I could see again, the light was brighter than I thought it would be and made me jump a little.

I checked every room downstairs but he was nowhere to be seen, I rushed up the stairs not even thinking about the creaks it would make, we'd lived in an old house with rickety stairs, peeling walls and doors off their hinges. I walked along the landing and pushed the door open to what had been my room but it was empty, I checked my dad's old room, Merle's and finally came to Daryl's. The door was wide open so I walked straight inside; I'd forgotten what Daryl's room had been like. Pushed back against the bed was his rather small single bed, the sheets still hadn't been made from when dad screamed at him to before he walked out, the wall paper wasn't even there anymore it had all peeled off and was lying on the floor beside where it had once been, the carpet was still a muddy brown which it had been any way just less faded. I looked back at the bed and saw Daryl sitting on it looking in something "I thought you might want to take this as well" he said and handed me a photo album, I looked at the front where it read 'Times dad was kind' and flicked through. The only times dad had ever been nice to me and Daryl and Merle was when we were on holiday or if we were out in public. "I took pictures of every time this happened and put them in there" he told me, I looked up from the album and smiled at my big brother.

It was nearly sun down by the time me and Daryl got back to the prison, the sky was blood red like it was almost trying to mock us, the sun looked as though it was bleeding out and disappearing under the trees in front of the prison. Rick met us at the gate and he actually hugged me, he seemed almost pleased to see me and I smiled hugging him back. I'd never hugged a man other than Daryl, I'd never even felt the warmth of Merle's hugs. "We've all been worried sick" Rick told me and I smiled at him, he helped me get the two things out of the car even though I reassured him I was fine with it and walked up the path to the prison cell block after Daryl.

When I walked into the cell block everyone did actually look pleased to see me and it made me smile, I'd never been made this welcome before. I looked up and saw Carl running over and he hugged me, 2 males hugging me the space of 2 minutes must have been some sort of record for me. I took the photo album off of Rick and went into my cell, I put the photo album on the shelf and put the photo album onto the desk that had been moved into my cell the previous day. I exited the cell and went over to where Carol was stood talking to Daryl "Ah, Jaden just the girl I wanted to see. Daryl here has been telling me about how you wanted to help around here" she said to me with a sickly sweet smile on her face, I still had warmed to her much. "Yeah that'd be great what can I do?" I asked her, pretending to smile back. She looked at my brother who smiled then walked away, beckoning me to follow. She walked out the prison cell into the yard, we crossed over into the other block where the majority of people who I'd been told came from a place called Woodbury were. "Okay everyone follow me if you want to come and hear some stories with me and Jaden" she called to them all, I stared at Carol and she smiled at me, I'd always liked looking after children and that but reading to them was never something I was keen on.

I followed Carol out the cell into the corridor outside, I looked back and saw there were about 9 or 10 children following; we walked into a small room which I saw to be a small library. Carol picked a book off the shelf and handed it to me, it was a book I had loved as a child, The Railway Children. I smiled at the children as they sat down around a chair "I need to go and sort something else out, will you be alright with them? If anything happens just scream someone'll hear ya" Carol told me, I nodded and sat down in the wooden chair starting to read the book to the children.


End file.
